Darlington suffer dispiriting FA Cup defeat to Hyde

THE only consolation Darlington could take from Saturday is that they have a swift opportunity to make amends this weekend when Hyde United return to Heritage Park for a league game.

All hopes of a lucrative and exciting FA Cup run were extinguished on an afternoon that saw Darlington dumped out 3-1 against a struggling Hyde side, who came into the game with two wins in eight games.

Yet they took the lead early on and took full advantage of an off-colour Quakers.

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Martin Gray’s side barely looked like the one which had won their previous four league matches and risen to second, scoring 11 goals along the way.

Instead, they were flat and defensively porous, all three of Hyde’s goals exposing gaps in Darlington’s defence, which has now conceded 12 goals in nine games, and very likely to have angered Gray.

However, his thoughts on the match and Quakers’ exit from the prestigious competition are unknown.

The manager eschewed his usual post-match media duties, heading away from Heritage Park immediately after a no doubt robust inquest in the changing room.

No doubt he was deeply disappointed, as were Darlington’s deflated supporters who have every right to expect Gray’s verdict and an explanation for such a display, which brought Quakers’ Cup hopes to a halt at the first hurdle.

The league may be more important, but there is nobody at Darlington that had not craved a Cup run and wondered if this would be their year, if they could replicate Blyth Spartans’ success of last season, especially having been handed home tie against a club 19th in the division.

Hyde were ahead after four minutes though, as the visitors strung together six passes inside Darlington’s half before Ayrton Bevins received the ball through the middle and rolled it past the advancing Peter Jameson.

Makeshift forward Alan White, one of two Darlington changes, had a shot cleared off the line after Kevin Burgess had headed the ball back across following a Stephen Thompson corner, before a spell of Quakers possession led to the equaliser.

Adam Mitchell’s ball in from the right was challenged for by White and Thompson slid home at close-range.

But the holes in Darlington’s defence were highlighted during a 15-minute spell before half-time.

Jameson had to push over Andy Pearson’s firmly-struck effort from inside the penalty area, the skilful Scott Spencer was wide with a 20-yard left-footed shot after a nice touch to control Ben Jago’s pass, and then Shane Killock climbed above Burgess at a corner, but headed over.

Gray made two substitutions early in the second half hoping to turn the game, but it was the visitors who were soon 2-1 ahead after scoring a goal defended weakly.

A throw on the right led to Reece Gray whipping a cross into the six-yard box where Bevins took a touch and Spencer had time and space to lash home.

Quakers immediately made another change, replacing the ineffective Ryan Brobbel with Anthony Bell, but it took a while before they began to put Hyde under pressure.

Thompson required lengthy treatment after a strong challenge in Hyde’s 18-yard box, one that Darlington felt was worthy of a penalty, but the reaction to going a going a goal down was delayed and limited.

Not until the final stages did Gray’s team, which changed to 3-4-3, begin to get into the opposition penalty area.

From a corner Burgess headed against the bar, while a cross by David Dowson evaded fellow substitute Graeme Armstrong and that was as close as Quakers got to forcing a replay, which would’ve been played this evening.

Gray had said he wanted the tie over inside 90 minutes and a last-minute penalty made certain of that, Burgess chopping down Harris, who had intercepted Jameson’s weak kick, with Spencer scoring from the spot to complete a dispiriting defeat.

The result represents an opportunity for revenue wasted, one that Hyde hope to make the most of.

Gary Lowe, Hyde’s boss, naturally had no qualms with speaking to the media, and he admitted his team had pulled off a surprise.

“We’ve had a bad couple of weeks, but we dug in and got a good result,” he said. “We’ve been absolutely diabolically at home, but we’ve won at Salford and now we’ve won at Darlington.

“In the first half we could’ve been well clear, we could’ve declared if we’d taken our chances. And normally they come back to haunt you.

“Darlington put us under pressure in the second half, we just had to keep it out of the box and keep heading it away.”